Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Nov 24 - Dec 30: CARIBOO MAGI at Pacific Theatre

Here we go again! Tons o' Christmas craziness - and more heart and substance than you might think - as we bring Lucia's hilarious Christmas romp back to our stage. Lucia, Dirk Van Stralen and Donna-Lea Ford all return from the original cast, plus Parnelli Parnes, who tore up the Bard stage this summer - much funniness. And this time, under the direction of Kerry Vander Griend, whose track record with CHICKENS and THE FARNDALE CHRISTMAS CAROL establishes him as one of the best comedy directors in town. (I know, I know, you're reading this, aren't you, Kerry? And going, "Hey, I don't just do comedy!" Fine. We'll find you something depressing some other year.)

Great story behind the development of this one. Cia came to Pacific Theatre back in 1990, our first ever apprentice. Acted in shows, before long we started putting her plays on our stage. Sponsored her to attend the Lamb's Players Writers Week, to work on a script about Arctic exploration. Which didn't go any further than that. But LP loved Looch, commissioned her to write them a one-act for Christmas. We read that script, loved it, asked Ms Frangione to develop it into a full-length piece. It was a mammoth success (well, as mammoth as our little 120-seat theatre can hold. Mini-mammoth). Last Christmas, perhaps stimulated to nostalgia by the hilarity of THE FARNDALE CHRISTMAS CAROL, our audience started asking "When are you bringing CARIBOO MAGI back again?" So we scheduled the darn thing into our 2006-2007 season. Then this spring Talonbooks announced that they would be publishing the script, as they had ESPRESSO a couple years before - and the official book launch will be at Pacific Theatre, opening Saturday (Nov 25). Come that night, meet the playwright and the rest of the cast, and get yourself a signed copy!

The show's got lots of appeal for all ages, so we've added a batch of matinee performances, especially during the week following Christmas. (Hey, it never occurred to me before, but do you know what? Christmas Week tickets for this show would make fabulous Christmas presents, wouldn't they? Gee, what a great idea, Ron....)